UC San Diego

The work I present here explores the situation of the technology-based musical worlds of Latin America. Focusing on the electronic experimental popular music scene of Peru, it adds to post-Colonial contemporary research by presenting the voice of an unrepresented community to the academic world of "music and technology." I discuss the need for implementing a democratizing of the access to information by allowing the inclusion of, in this case, Peruvian intelligence in the selection and design of interfaces to be used by the members of the Peruvian scene. In order for a community to operate it has to exist first. For this reason an important part of this work is dedicated to presenting a history of the community studied. The influence of the political and social crisis that has characterized most of the contemporary history of Peru and its effect on this community is also explored and used to inform a process of material selection for interface design. I made a case for a closer look at the relationship between musical territories and their interfaces as two equally important parts of the "message." Interfaces as extensions of the human body carry political, social, and cultural statement that I wish to acknowledge and if possible decipher